usatvline Chapter 15 A Glimmer of Hope
Chapter 15 A Glimmer of Hope
The study door closed behind him, and Yin'e walked behind the desk, looking directly at Yin De.
"What exactly happened?"
Yin De took two steps forward and lowered his voice, saying, "Reporting to Tenth Master, this servant went to the Ministry of Revenue early this morning."
I originally thought that since Ninth Master had agreed, the debt should be settled, and I was just going to go through the motions to get the IOU back and clear the account. But who knew…”
"When I arrived at the Ministry of Revenue, I found Wang Yishan, the clerk in charge of the archives."
The steward and the servant had some relationship, so they didn't hold back in their conversation.
He flipped through the files in front of the servants, and there it was—the IOU for 200,000 taels of silver belonging to the Tenth Master was still there, perfectly intact, with the red ink, signature, and seal all there, untouched.
Yin'e narrowed his eyes slightly and remained silent.
Yin De continued, "At the time, I didn't believe it. I thought that Master Wang had misread it."
The servant checked it again himself; it was written in black and white, there was no mistake.
The servant then asked Master Wang, "Has anyone come to inquire about this account in the past two days?"
After thinking for a moment, Wang said, "Yesterday afternoon, the steward from Ninth Master's residence came by, but not to return the money; he came to ask about..."
He glanced at Yin'e, seemingly hesitant.
"What do you want to ask?"
"The question is... what will the Imperial Clan Court do if Prince fails to repay this debt by the due date?"
They also asked whether it should be reported to the Emperor if the Prince were to sell his belongings to pay off his debts.
At the time, Manager Wang found it strange, saying that Ninth Master and Tenth Master had always been close, so why didn't they come to help repay the money, but instead inquired about these things?
He didn't dare ask any more questions and just told the truth.
The study was quiet for a moment, then Yin'e paced back and forth with his hands behind his back.
"You mean, Ninth Master didn't even go to the Ministry of Revenue?"
"Yes, Ninth Master hasn't left the house since returning yesterday, there's no mistake."
Yin'e nodded and continued pacing.
He's in a somewhat passive position now.
Yesterday at the Eighth Prince's residence, he overheard the conversation between the Eighth and Ninth Princes.
The eighth brother asked the ninth brother to "help him pay off his debts in a grand manner," and the ninth brother readily agreed.
He thought the matter was a done deal, which is why he said to his wife, "I can figure it out myself."
But now it seems that Lao Jiu has no intention of repaying the money at all.
Or rather, Lao Jiu doesn't plan to pay it back for the time being, but is waiting for something.
What troubles him even more is that he still has no way to ask Lao Jiu.
That would be tantamount to telling Lao Jiu that I overheard your conversation, or it would be tantamount to telling Lao Jiu that I simply don't have any money to spare.
Was everything you said before just bluffing?
Either way, it would completely strip him of the initiative in front of Lao Jiu.
Neither advancing nor retreating is an option.
dilemma.
Yin'e stopped and stood by the window, looking at the old locust tree in the courtyard.
What is the current percentage of money being repaid by court officials?
Yin De quickly replied, "Reporting to Tenth Master, so far, only about 30% has been repaid."
Everyone was very resistant, but since there was an imperial edict, no one dared not return a single penny.
Most people pay back 20-30% to get by first, and then delay the rest to see how things develop.
"Thirty percent? The fourth brother must be getting anxious, right?"
"That's right." Yin De took a step forward, his voice suddenly filled with excitement. "By the way, Tenth Master, something interesting happened this morning."
"What is it?" Yin'e turned around and looked at Yin De's suppressed laughter, feeling a bit curious.
"Jinling Deputy General Ma Guocheng, the same Ma Guocheng under the First Prince, should the Tenth Prince remember him?"
This morning, he took Longkodo and stormed into the Ministry of Revenue to confront Tian Wenjing.
Yin'e raised an eyebrow: "Oh? How do you plan to tear it?"
Yin Deqing cleared his throat, took two steps back, and stood in the open space in the middle of the study.
He first straightened his collar, then suddenly yanked it open, pretending to unbutton his shirt to reveal his chest.
Then, his eyes widened, the veins on his neck bulged, and he yelled at the top of his lungs:
"Tian Wenjing! I'll fuck your mother! You're just a student of the Imperial Academy, a dismissed seventh-rank official, what gives you the right to swagger around here?"
"You want to collect a debt? Let me tell you, I have no money, but you can take my life! I've died several times over with the Emperor!"
Yin De imitated the character perfectly, not only raising his voice several octaves but also capturing the nonchalant expression flawlessly.
Yin'e was taken aback at first, then burst out laughing.
He laughed so hard he almost fell over, one hand supporting himself on the desk, the other pointing at Yin De, tears welling up in his eyes.
"Good! Good!" he laughed, slapping the table. "Well done! That's exactly what he'd do!"
When Yin De saw that Tenth Master was smiling, he also smiled.
After laughing, he became serious again and continued, "Then, Fourth Master arrived."
Tian Wenjing is Fourth Master's woman, and with Ma Guocheng causing such a commotion, Fourth Master is losing face.
Fourth Master immediately had Ma Guocheng taken away without giving him any face.
It's estimated that Fourth Master eventually returned the person to First Master.
Yin'e wiped away the tears from the corners of his eyes, and his laughter gradually subsided.
Although this little incident relaxed him a lot, after laughing, the tension in his mind returned.
The matter remains unresolved.
He went back behind his desk and sat down.
"How's the inventory of the timber going? Has the buyer come to inspect it?"
Yin De quickly replied, "They're still counting it, but I've already had several timber merchants come and take a look. The highest price they have is only fifty thousand taels."
"What? Fifty thousand? A theater that cost hundreds of thousands of taels of silver to build, and you're just going to tear it down and sell it for fifty thousand?"
Yin De gave a wry smile and didn't say anything, but his expression clearly said, "Don't you know what's going on?"
Yin'e was silent for a moment, then waved his hand.
"Fine, fine, fifty thousand it is. Sell as much as we can. Let's fill the hole piece by piece first."
"Yes, Your Highness." Yin De responded, then suddenly remembered something and asked cautiously, "Tenth Prince, how was your lunch with your wife?"
"It's alright." Yin'e picked up the teacup on the table and took a sip.
"Regarding the silver..." Yin De asked tentatively, "Have you mentioned it to the Fujin (wife)?"
No, it's not the right time yet.
Yin De stood aside, feeling dejected, and didn't say anything more.
Yin'e leaned back in his chair, closed his eyes, and continued to tap rhythmically on the table with his fingers.
He needs to think of a solution.
There's no way to count on Lao Jiu. Although Lao Ba has spoken, Lao Jiu won't move, and Lao Ba won't take out his own money.
You could try your maternal relatives, but you can't really count on those other relatives.
They were only doing it out of respect for Consort Wenxi. Now that the Consort is gone, who will genuinely help him?
Selling timber would only raise 50,000, and the manor had 30,000 in cash, totaling only 80,000, still far short of 200,000.
What should I do?
Just as he was deep in thought, a flash of inspiration suddenly appeared in his mind.
"Oh right, there's this other trick too!"